Cuban-American Grand Master Leinier Domínguez said goodbye to the Berlin Grand Prix after failing to beat Levon Aronian , an American of Armenian origin, who had defeated him the day before.
In the duel, the Güinero had clear pieces and tried to achieve victory through the Italian Opening, but his opponent mounted a solid defense that forced a draw in just 31 moves, with absolute parity on the board.
On Saturday, Aronian had beaten Dominguez in 41 spins in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted.
Despite the elimination, the native of Güines won four ELO points in the fight (now he has a coefficient of 2756), and he earned seven units in the Grand Prix race.
In the other semifinal, the North American Hikaru Nakamura tied with the Hungarian Richard Rapport and agreed to the final, where he will face Aronian.
The Berlin tournament kicked off a series of three events that will ultimately award a couple of places in the Candidates Tournament for the world crown, held by Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
The other two phases of the Grand Prix will be in Belgrade (February 28 to March 14) and again in Berlin (March 21 to April 4). Precisely for the second of these fairs, the reappearance of the former top board of Cuba is indicated.
The prize pool for each tournament amounts to 150 thousand euros.